John Carpenter To Direct Comic Adaptation 'Darkchylde'

Even though “Fangland” with Hilary Swank seems to have fallen apart, John Carpenter seems well on his way with a new project, an adaptation of the comic “Darkchylde.” Created by Randy Queen, the comics follow “a young girl named Ariel Chylde who regularly sheds her skin and turns into her deepest, darkest nightmares.” Richard Taylor of WETA recently dropped some test footage from the film (which you can watch below) and indicated they hope to get things going on the film within the year. We’ve never really paid much attention to the comic, and considering Carpenter hasn’t made a film worth caring about in over a decade (this year’s “The Ward” was dead-on-arrival at TIFF) we’re finding it difficult to muster up too much excitement about this one. But in case dorks start complaining about the CGI in the WETA clip, it’s test footage guys, nothing close to final, so relax.

Collider has a plethora of new photos from Joel Schumacher’s upcoming thriller “Trespass.” The film stars Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a husband and wife who are taken hostage by four brutal perpetrators seeking easy cash with chaos further ensuing as betrayal and deception, presumably within the camp of criminals, are uncovered. Ben Mendelsohn, Dash Mihok, Liana Liberato, Cam Gigandet and Jordana Spiro round out the cast and the film will hit theaters next year.

Niels Arden Oplev, director of the Swedish language adaptation of Stieg Larsson‘s sensation “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” has linked up with CBS Films to direct “The Keep” based on the novel by Jennifer Egan. Set to be adapted by Ehren Kruger (“Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon,” “The Skeleton Key“) the film is described as a cross between “The Ring” (which Kruger wrote) and “Inception” (sigh) and is “a story within a story about two cousins with a shared secret who reunite to renovate a legendary haunted medieval castle that turns dreams and nightmares into reality.” Ooooh, spooky.

Dennis Iliadis, the director of the horror remake “Last House On The Left,” is teaming up with writer Teddy Tenenbaum of “Ellen” and “Ghost Whisperer” fame (lol) for [cue dramatic strings] “The Demonologists.” The film will follow “a family of veteran ghost hunters who get more than they bargained for when they are called in to face what they soon realize is not a routine ghost job but a demon infestation.” Snooze. If anything, we hope this keeps Illiadis busy enough and away from the ill-advised remake of “The Birds” that’s currently in development and which he is also linked to.

Finally, Jennifer Lynch (yes, daughter of that other Lynch you know) is set to direct “Visibility” for 20th Century Fox. Based on a script by Allan Loeb (“The Switch,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps“) who has yet to convince us why he’s such a hot property these days, the film follows “a detective whose search for the identity of a trauma-induced amnesia victim reveals a mysterious connection between the two men.” “Loeb’s ‘Visibility’ snuck up on me like a stranger at a party — a safe place, a new face — Mama warned me about scripts like this,” Lynch said about the project. She’s certainly cut an interesting career path going from “Boxing Helena” to most recently the Bollywood film “Hisss” so we’re definitely intrigued.